Lieutenant governor reiterates opposition to Common Core

mgnonline.com

By Winston-Salem Journal

Published: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 11:09 AM.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest reiterated his opposition Monday night to the Common Core curriculum adopted by the state's public schools, saying that many teachers across North Carolina are not prepared to teach it.

“If I was a teacher, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with this,” Forest said.

Forest also answered questions about Common Core other issues during a town-hall meeting at the West Campus of Forsyth Technical Community College. About 70 people showed up for the forum.

Forest said he is disappointed with the answers he has received from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction about Common Core's benchmarks for reading, writing and math. Common Core has been adopted by North Carolina and 44 other states.

Forest said that DPI responded with 40,000 pages of documents to the 67 questions he posed last month to State Superintendent June Atkinson about Common Core standards.

Forest is a member of the State Board of Education, which is examining the standards.

Forest said that Atkinson didn't directly answer his questions about how teachers and students will be assessed under the curriculum and how much it will cost the state to implement the curriculum.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest reiterated his opposition Monday night to the Common Core curriculum adopted by the state's public schools, saying that many teachers across North Carolina are not prepared to teach it.

“If I was a teacher, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with this,” Forest said.

Forest also answered questions about Common Core other issues during a town-hall meeting at the West Campus of Forsyth Technical Community College. About 70 people showed up for the forum.

Forest said he is disappointed with the answers he has received from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction about Common Core's benchmarks for reading, writing and math. Common Core has been adopted by North Carolina and 44 other states.

Forest said that DPI responded with 40,000 pages of documents to the 67 questions he posed last month to State Superintendent June Atkinson about Common Core standards.

Forest is a member of the State Board of Education, which is examining the standards.

Forest said that Atkinson didn't directly answer his questions about how teachers and students will be assessed under the curriculum and how much it will cost the state to implement the curriculum.

Parents and teachers likely will not get straight answers from state education officials if they, too, have questions about the curriculum, Forest said, adding he is opposed to state officials collecting data on students as part of the Common Core standards.

Forest said he is concerned that rural school systems lack the computer technology networks to implement Common Core's testing of students. Those results will be part of the measures for student learning that teachers will be used as part of the evaluation process of teachers, Forest said.

“Teachers are being evaluated on this tool, and students have no accountability,” Forest said.

Forest also mentioned legislation that the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed this year such as Regulatory Reform Act of 2013 that proponents say will cut burdensome rules for businesses and government red tape and encourage job creation, especially by small businesses.

He also pointed to the legislation that requires voters to present government-issued photo IDs at the polls.

Forest said that legislators properly refused to expand Medicaid to about 500,000 more people and cut taxes for corporations.

Forest said that legislators overhauled state spending for public schools, but he questioned cuts in pay for teachers with graduate degrees. The state budget eliminated funding for some teaching assistants because those jobs were paid for with federal stimulus money, and legislators decided not to replace it with state money, he said.

“There is nothing devastating happening with education,” Forest said.

Chris Thomas of Winston-Salem attended the forum. Thomas said he agreed with Forest's views on limited government, but “a lot of what he said was political mumbo jumbo,” Thomas said.